"If it was not for Russians here in the last 10 years, there would not be any development in Cyprus," said Cecilia Shine, 38, a home designer shopping in the Russ Market supermarket in Limassol's affluent Georgiou A Boulevard that stretches along the Mediterranean waterfront.

Under the pressure of a proposed bank account levy to fund a European Union bail-out package, Ms Shine, originally from Moscow, admitted that many of her country would now leave Cyprus – taking their wealth with them.

"Russians are leaving and I believe the Troika [the team of IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission officials who have negotiated the package with Cyprus] planned for this," she said.

"When the Russians leave, who is going to take their place? Germany is going to come. They [Germany] don't like having to have a special relationship with Russia to get our oil and natural gas. They want to get their hands on Cyprus' oil and gas."

Elena, 45, an economist shopping with her husband and two children, agreed that the departure of Russians would be disastrous for Cyprus.

"If Russian people take back their money it will be a great problem for Cyprus," she said. "Cyprus with Russian money can get more profit than with the EU. I think they want to drive Russian money out of Cyprus and into other countries in the EU, because it's a great deal of money."

It remains to be seen whether predictions of a Russian exodus will come true. A group of Russian oligarchs were said to have flown in to the port city of Larnaka on Tuesday for a series of meetings.

In Russ Markt, an emporium bearing the symbol of Moscow's St Basil Cathedral on its frontage, patrons speculated that they had arrived to bribe the Cypriot government into rejecting the EU bail-out, which ordinary Cypriots have denounced as harshly unfair.

In fact, Cyprus, is seeking a new £1.7bn loan from Russia, whose president, Vladimir Putin, has described the EU bail-out plan as "dangerous".

The influx of wealthy Russians into Limassol in recent years has earned the city the nickname "Limassolgrad".

Evidence of Russian cultural influence is plain to see, as evidenced by the proliferation of shop fronts with Cyrillic writing along the waterfront area.

The influx of Russian wealth is just as obvious, residents say. An Aston Martin showroom in a neighbourhood that also boasts the Four Seasons Hotel is said to cater largely to rich customers from Russia.

The presence of vast sums of Russian wealth has drawn accusations that Cyprus is being used in concerted money laundering operations by mafia-type organisations, thus justifying the tough EU conditions for the bail-out.

Dario Perkins, an analyst at Lombard Street Research, summed up this sentiment, telling AP that "the German government couldn't be seen bailing out Russian Mafiosi" in the run-up to a forthcoming general election in Germany.

Limassol-based Russians reacted with indignation to charge. "This talk of money-laundering is ridiculous," said Ms Shine. "It was something that happened 20 years ago after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

"There are a few people hiding their money but that's not a Russian thing uniquely. Don't you have people in Britain hiding their money to avoid paying tax?"

Chrysta Eliades, 58, a British-born Cypriot retired businessman with close ties to the Russian community, said investors from Russia who were generally opposed to Mr Putin's government were using Cyprus as a "non-taxable location".

"These people moved their money out days ago and are going to leave the eurozone altogether," he said. "And where are they going to go? To a non-Euro zone country, which means the UK. All this is good news for us."